A Great Destiny
by Banescript
Summary: AU. In a world where there are no Uchiha, what would the lives of young Konoha ninja look like? Slow buildup of relationships (main is OC/OC). Read "Introduction: Before We Begin..." for details.
1. Introduction: Before We Begin

**Introduction: Before We Begin...**

**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

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><p>I would like to say before I begin that this is an alternate universe wherein a couple clans are removed and a couple are added. All members of those clans are also removed or added. The new clans each are my individual idea, although the idea of new clans itself is not. Any similarity between my added content and someone else's is entirely coincidental.<p>

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><p>I'm fully translating all techniques and ranks. I see no reason not to considering my entire story is in English. A small selection of my translations is provided below:<p>

Genin - Apprentice (P)

Chuunin - Adept (A)

Tokubetsu Jounin - Focused Elite (FE)  
>Jounin - General Elite (GE)<br>ANBU - Masked Elite (ME)  
>Hunter - Hunter Elite (HE)<p>

Sannin - Grandmaster (GM)

Kage - Lord/Lady (L)

Byakugan - Eyes of Divination

Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu - Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique

etc.

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><p>Note that although I'm changing ranks and technique names, I am keeping all characters' names the same. I see no reason to Europeanize them.<p>

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><p>The setting is the same as the original: The Elemental Nations, focused mostly on Konoha and the Land of Fire. Naruto and a majority of the members of the Konoha 12 exist. The exclusions are Sakura and the rest of the Haruno familyclan, and because I'm sick of them, the Uchiha. Yes, all of them. The storyline will greatly differ from the original one, but it's an alternate universe so that shouldn't be a problem. It will start just after the Naruto's class gets promoted to an Apprentice, and be focused on Team 7 (which will not have Naruto in it).

I've added two clans to make up for the ones I've removed. There's the small, secretive Sunadokei clan, and the larger, more open Shiro clan. There has been no Great Massacre of any clan.

The Shiro clan are collectively the internal police force of Konoha. Their heiress is in Naruto's class in the Academy. The Sunadokei clan also has an heir in Naruto's class. They will replace Sakura and Sasuke.

The clan powers of the Shiro and Sunadokei clans will be gradually revealed as I decide upon them. For now, the only thing of import is that the Sunadokei have a doujutsu named the Eyes of Fate. Its power will be revealed over time.

Note that because of these changes, the Akatsuki will not exist in the same manner as they did before, and the Rinnegan cannot exist. The Akatsuki will still exist, however, and their name will be translated into English, just like everything else (as Daybreak).

The situation with Kakashi is an interesting one, due to his possession of one Sharingan eye. I am counteracting this by saying that if one implants one of the Eyes of Fate in their eye sockets, and is not a member of the Sunadokei clan, then it changes into one of the Eyes of Envy, which are basically Sharingan eyes, except that the Mangekyou Sharingan doesn't exist in this world. Obito still exists in the history, except as a member of the Sunadokei instead of as an Uchiha. Their appearance is altered because of the alteration of the conditions of their existence. This will be addressed when it comes up in the story.

Despite all this, the Kyuubi no Kitsune did attack Konoha in this world, and Namikaze Minato did lose his life sealing it in Naruto.

I will exercise my artistic liberties to add or remove characters as I see fit throughout the passage of the story. I'll keep the ones I like or am neutral about, and remove the ones that I dislike the concept of.

I know many people won't approve of those changes, so I'm informing you now. It's happening. If you don't like it, don't read. You've been warned. I'm making this for myself and those who will appreciate it, not everyone. Sorry.

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><p>I don't know how far I'll be able to get into it before I stop. I promise now that I will try to continue it unto its natural end, but you never know what will come up. I apologize in advance if I stop at a terrible time.<p> 


	2. Chapter I: A Great Destiny

**Chapter I: A Great Destiny  
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**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

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><p>Iruka walked in and surveyed the room. <em>Good, everyone's here.<em> He smiled at the class before he walked up to the front of the room.

"Alright, I'm glad to see you're all here. You will be assigned Elite Masters shortly, just let me pull out the assignment sheet..." He sifted through the papers on the top of his desk to get the right one, then started to read it out.

"The first team is Team 7, with Sunadokei Deimo, Nara Shikamaru, and Shiro Bri. They will be taught by Hatake Kakashi. The next team is Team 8. It's members are Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. They will be taught by Sarutobi Asuma. The next team is Team 10. It will be formed by Uzumaki Naruto, Akimichi Chouji, and Hyuuga Hinata. They will be taught by Yuuhi Kurenai..."

And he continued to read off the names. Eighteen others were assigned in six other teams with six other teachers. Afterwards, he wished his students luck in their future challenges, which seemed to be aimed at something specific, but none of the new Apprentices knew what it could possibly be.

Gradually, the Elite Master ninja filtered in and ushered their Teams away for introductions. After about thirty minutes, the only ones left were those of Team 7. Shikamaru was sitting by the window looking at the clouds. Deimo and Bri were sitting next to each other, quietly talking, and occasionally chuckling at one inside joke or another.

This went on for another hour before Kakashi showed up. When he walked into the room, Shikamaru was napping and Deimo and Bri were still chatting. He looked them over and said, "Team 7, right? Meet on the roof in five minutes for introductions," then walked out.

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><p>Five minutes later, the three were sitting on the roof, with Kakashi in front of them. Well, except Shikamaru, who was laying down, looking at the clouds.<p>

Kakashi had long grey hair that projected itself upwards instead of downwards, like normal hair. His forehead protector drooped down to cover his left eye. He wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face, and had average Jounin garb on: black clothes with a Konoha flak vest.

"Alright, introductions. I'll start. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't particularly like or dislike anything. I don't have any hobbies. My dreams for the future are personal." Then, he looked over to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru had his medium-length black hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail whose shape somewhat resembled a pinapple. He had a chain shirt with a grey/green jacket over it, with his forehead protector around his left upper arm, and brown pants.

"Ugh, troublesome. My name is Nara Shikamaru. I like chess and looking at the clouds. I dislike work and troublesome people. My hobbies are playing chess and looking at the clouds. My dream is to be a perfectly average ninja with a perfectly average life. Anything better or worse is much too troublesome."

The next person to introduce themself was Sunadokei Deimo. He had brilliant blue eyes and medium length black hair pulled back into a ponytail that ended between his shoulder blades. He had a wide-brimmed hat on that did an excellent job of covering his face most of the time. He wore a long dark blue jacket over a chain shirt, with dark blue pants. His forehead protector was also on his left upper arm. On his left hand, he had a gauntlet, and he had bracers on both of his forearms. The gauntlet and bracers each had the symbol of his clan embossed upon them: a simple hourglass design.

"My name is Sunadokei Deimo. I like people who are agreeable and books that have complicated plots. I dislike people who aren't agreeable and putting effort into things that are meaningless. My hobbies are training, reading, and writing. My dream is to live a decently long but not extended life that's more or less happy in the long run. Then again, I'll know that soon enough..."

He looked over to Bri. She was the most attractive person in his class (or at least, he thought so). She had long light brown hair tied back in a braid, and glittering, excited green eyes. She wore a short dark blue long-sleeved dress with a deep v-neck over a chain shirt, and had black shorts on underneath. Her forehead protector was around her waist.

"My name is Shiro Bri. I like people who are caring, responsible, and follow rules whenever they can. I dislike people who are cruel or intentionally break rules with no good reason, and are unwilling to accept the consequences. My hobby is spending time with my friends. My dream for the future is to accomplish great things, and I want to eventually become an Elite ninja."

Kakashi looked over his group with some small amount of interest. After a couple moments, he said: "Be at Training Ground 7 tomorrow at 7. You're going to have a test to see if you can be Apprentices-"

Bri interrupted him, "But we _are_ Apprentices! We have the forehead protectors and everything."

Kakashi sighed, then explained, "No, you aren't Apprentices, yet. You've just graduated the Academy, so you aren't Students anymore. There's another test that each Elite Master administers to its group to make sure that they earn their position. There may have been 27 Students that graduated from the Academy, but only 9 of you will become Apprentices this year."

Everyone looked at him despairingly.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Training Ground 7 tomorrow at 7 am. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. It'll only make you throw up."

With that, he jumped away, going to do whatever it is Kakashi does when he's not with his students, leaving the three former Students alone on the roof. They all shared glances with each other, not quite sure how to react to this new information.

Then, Deimo got up, and put down a hand to help Bri up.

"No use of just sitting here and wondering. Worrying won't get us anywhere."

Bri took his hand, and he pulled her up. They looked over at Shikamaru. He looked very peaceful, looking at the clouds, so they simply said "See you tomorrow, Shikamaru" and left him.

Deimo walked Bri to her family's compound, then took off his hat and kissed her cheek before saying "Don't worry too much, Bri," and putting his hat back on then walking back to his home. She just put her hand on her cheek and watched him go. _Deimo... I promise I won't._

When Deimo got home, he went to his room and pulled a book off his shelf. He spent the rest of the day reading it. Then, he placed it in his weapons pouch and went to sleep. He wouldn't have it after tomorrow, probably.

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><p>Deimo got up around 7:30 and had breakfast before going to Training Ground 7. From what he observed of Master Kakashi, not eating breakfast and the early start was part of the test. Ninja were supposed to see beyond the obvious into the hidden, and he was reasonably sure that that's what Kakashi was trying to drill into them.<p>

When he got there, he saw a grumpy Bri sitting down leaning against a tree. Apparently, she hadn't figured it the same way he had. He sighed. She liked following the rules too much, sometimes.

"What're you doing here so early, Bri?" he asked when he got closer.

"Master Kakashi said to come here at 7. It's almost 8. What're you doing here so late?"

"Come on, Bri, he was testing our ability to spot a lie. If we were supposed to be here at 7, then why isn't he here?"

Bri's eyes widened, "I hadn't thought of that."

Deimo stuck his tongue out at her, "I noticed. I bet you didn't eat breakfast, either?"

"No..."

"Want some?" Deimo pulled a ration bar out of one of the inner pockets in his jacket, "They aren't great, but they're something."

"Thanks," Bri said and took the bar. While she was eating it, Shikamaru came and sat down beside them.

"Kakashi still not here?"

"Nope," Deimo and Bri answered in unison, then looked at each other and giggled.

A couple minutes later, Bri had finished the bar and Deimo had pulled out his book and was reading it. Shikamaru was looking at the clouds through the foliage. Kakashi finally showed up.

They looked at him and Bri mentioned that it was almost 9 in a tone that could _almost_ be mistaken for a mild one, but in actuality was just a frustrated one.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and said: "Sorry, a black cat crossed my path, and-"

Deimo's laughter cut him off. After it subsided, Kakashi sighed and told them what their test was. He pulled out a couple bells and said: "Alright, so... these two bells are your objective. You have to get one of them from me. If you do, you pass, and you can become an Apprentice. If you don't, you fail. If you fail, you do not become an Apprentice and you don't get to eat any lunch, either."

Deimo and Shikamaru thought about that for a second, then smirked and nodded to each other.

"We'll begin when I say start. Is everyone ready?" They all got up and nodded their heads. "Start."

Instead of them all jumping away as he suspected, Deimo just kept reading his book in front of him with one hand and stayed still in front of Kakashi while the other two jumped away.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Not a very subtle tactic..." he said, then he noticed what book his student was reading...

"Icha Icha Paradise 2!" Kakashi's eyes were locked on the cover of Deimo's book. "Where did you get that?!"

"I saw it." Deimo's eyes flickered to look at Kakashi's eye, "This is just a copy that I made of a book that will be, in about 2 years." After he said that, his eyes went back down and he finished up the last page.

Kakashi's face was filled with envy. "Can... can I see it?"

"No."

"Please? I don't know if I can wait 2 years now that I know you have it."

"Well, I'll let you have it... if you give me those bells."

_Well, even if he does get the bells, he doesn't really pass the test, so it's not like I'm letting him cheat or anything..._ "Alright," Kakashi passed the bells, and Deimo tossed the book over.

Kakashi caught it and promptly started reading it. The kid wasn't lying. It really was Icha Icha Paradise 2. He already has had his **Eyes of Fate** unlocked for a while now. _Interesting._

"Alright guys, come down."

Bri and Shikamaru jumped down and stood beside Deimo. Deimo then passed one of the bells to each of them and sat down. They sat down beside him.

"It's over, Master."

"So it is," Kakashi said, "You all pass."

None of them looked confused, so Kakashi sighed. _They had to give me the smartest students in the Academy all in one group._ "I can see that you aren't surprised..."

"It was pretty easy to figure out. It was a teamwork exercise. You were a little too dramatic to be telling the truth."

"Ahh, so you already learned how to see through deception."

"If you were here before, you'd know that already. We all had breakfast and got here late."

"Oh." There was a pause before Kakashi continued in a suspicious voice, "Yes, that was why I told you those things. They were a test..."

"Wow. You mean you just forgot about us for two hours?"

"No, I said the exact opposite of that."

"But-"

"Anyway, because no fighting occurred, I never learned your skill and teamwork in combat, so we'll devote tomorrow to that. Afterwards, we can start doing missions."

They all nodded. Deimo said, "Sounds like a plan, Master. What will we do for the rest of the day?"

"Whatever you want, I guess. I wasn't expecting you to pass." With that, Kakashi jumped away, leaving them frustrated with him.

Deimo looked at his teammates, "Want to go to Ichiraku Ramen?"

Shikamaru rested his head back and looked at the clouds, "Nah, too troublesome."

Deimo extended his hand to Bri. She took it and they walked off.

"See you tomorrow, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru didn't take his eyes off the clouds, "Yeah."


	3. Chapter II: Team 7's Might

**Chapter II: Team 7's Might**

**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

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><p>Team 7 met up at Training Ground 7 at 7 AM. When Deimo mentioned the poetic repetition of the number 7, Bri and Shikamaru laughed with him. Then, they were serious. Today was another test. This one wasn't for their position anymore. No, this time it was for Kakashi's respect. There wouldn't be any bells this time, only them and Kakashi. It was important that they developed some sort of strategy to take him on. Without it, they wouldn't last long enough to show off their skill sets, which would defeat the purpose of the exercise, and make sure that they lost Kakashi's respect before they even got it.<p>

At 9, Kakashi showed up to see them discussing the nuances of a plan quietly but urgently. They quickly noticed his presence and stopped talking immediately. Kakashi walked over to end up about 5 meters in front of them. They stood up and greeted him. When that was done, Kakashi spoke, "Yesterday, you proved to me that you understood the value of teamwork. Today, you will show me your strength. We will spar, you three versus myself. When that is done, I will spar each of you individually so that I can get a better grasp of your individual skills. Is that understood?"

Deimo, Bri, and even Shikamaru looked determined, "Yes, Master."

"We will begin when I say 'start.' Prepare yourselves..."

Each of the four ninjas present sunk into a ready stance. Deimo's eyes widened when he saw Kakashi's stance. It was unfamiliar to the young Apprentice. He sighed. _I suppose this will be more challenging than I thought._

Shikamaru apparently had the same thought, because his eyes flickered to Deimo's to make sure he noticed. They shared a nod, and started to work on fallback strategies. Their plans were already in peril.

"Start."

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><p>When Kakashi said that word, the three Apprentices spread out so that Deimo was in the middle, with Shikamaru and Bri to either side about 2 meters apart. The three advanced as a unit, obviously intending to rely on their strength in numbers. When Kakashi noticed, he eye smiled at them. <em>It's a good strategy. The only problem is that it won't work on me.<em>

They stopped at close range from Kakashi, with Bri and Shikamaru flanking him. Deimo was in the stance of his personal style of martial arts, one he developed about a year ago because it suited his personality and approach better than anything he was taught at the Academy. He has yet to name it. Bri was in the stance of the Shiro clan, and Shikamaru just used the one that they were taught in the Academy.

After a moment's wait, Deimo struck out at Kakashi. Instead of having fists, as per the usual, his fingers were curled up into themselves, giving a spectator the impression of a cat's sheathed claws. Kakashi easily blocked the blow, and then the one that followed immediately after it from Bri, but he had to jump back to dodge Shikamaru's sweeping kick. _Or maybe it will. Three blows, one immediately after the other, from three different sources. Looks like their teamwork was better than I thought.__ Usually, a group just trades off every ten or so seconds, because it's too difficult to collaborate with each individual strike._

Right when Kakashi landed, however, he felt a shoe hit his back hard, and he stumbled forward. He looked around to see Shikamaru standing behind him. Then he looked forward. There was a Shikamaru in front of him, too. _A clone? _His eyes widened. _They knew I would dodge, and not notice that it wasn't physical._ That was all he got to think before...

"**Shadow Mimicry Technique**"

And it was over. Kakashi wouldn't be able to move his limbs in a moment. The three Apprentices grinned as the shadows stretched ever closer...

Kakashi disappeared, leaving only a puff of smoke and a log behind. They had to leap to their side to dodge kunai that he threw as he made his escape.

"A substitution," Deimo called out.

The group looked for the origin of the kunai, but saw nothing but the forest around them.

Bri saw that her teammates were let down and chuckled, "Looks like we'll need to improvise a little..."

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><p>Kakashi was tree running away from his Apprentices, absorbing the information he got from the brief engagement. <em>Alright, their teamwork is impeccable. Their strategies are also pretty great. If I wasn't an Elite they probably would've gotten me. Fortunately for me, I am.<em>

_To win, I'll probably need to split them up. Otherwise, I'll just engage and have to retreat over and over again until I tire them out. Unfortunately, my stamina isn't the greatest, so that's not really an option._

Meanwhile, back in the clearing, the three Apprentices were thinking about how to approach the problem of the disappearing Kakashi. Shikamaru and Deimo analyzed the trajectory of the kunai and figured out approximately which direction he was when he threw them.

"He probably went that way," Shikamaru said, pointing in the direction the kunai came from, "He would've just ran straight away, relying on his superior speed to put some distance between us while he figures out how to defeat us."

"That conclusion is agreeable," Deimo said, then started running in the direction Shikamaru pointed. His teammates followed. _You won't get away that easy, Kakashi._

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><p>They eventually reached a stream, with three Kakashis in front of it.<p>

"Troublesome," Shikamaru grunted quietly as he landed in the new clearing.

As the three Apprentices assembled on the far side of the clearing, two Kakashis jumped away. Deimo looked at Shikamaru, then at Bri. They nodded to him. _If one of the ones that went away was the real Kakashi, then we have to split up to make sure. This situation isn't very agreeable..._

As his fellow Apprentices split apart and went to follow the other Kakashis, Deimo charged forward to meet his own opponent. Immediately upon nearing his opponent, he launched into a flurry of punches and kicks that Kakashi dodged with little visible effort.

After about a minute, it became clear to Deimo that this strategy would not work. He jumped back and ripped his hat off of his head, flinging it onto a low branch on the nearest tree. After that, he looked up, and his eyes didn't have a white or a pupil, they were just pure radiant cerulean, almost glowing they were so bright.

"It's time to begin, Master."

"The **Eyes of Fate**?" Kakashi questioned his student. It'd been a while since he'd seen the bloodline, and he didn't remember it with that coloration.

Deimo didn't respond, he just started forming hand seals.

_He shouldn't know any jutsu, yet!_

"**Wind Style: Gale Palm Technique**"

Deimo's hands clapped together, and a torrent of wind flew towards Kakashi, who jumped back... right into a kick from Deimo. Kakashi recovered from the blow with a flip, and landed on the stream, only to see that Deimo was standing on the water, too.

_This just got more interesting,_ Kakashi thought, _It looks like I'll have to start being more aggressive._

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><p>Shikamaru was almost entirely sure that this was just a ploy to split them up. Honestly, the only option they really had if they wanted to locate Kakashi was to split up, though. <em>This is so troublesome.<em>

Suddenly, there was a clearing ahead. He landed on one side of it, and say the Kakashi he was tailing on the other side.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me if you're the real Master Kakashi, will you?"

"Nope," Kakashi eye smiled, "But you'll probably find out in a couple minutes."

Shikamaru just sighed. _I don't want to deal with this..._

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><p>Bri just caught up with her Kakashi. They were standing on two different branches of large trees, just staring each other down.<p>

"Kakashi, didn't you want to do a fight with three of us versus you before you did one on one sparring?"

"I did, but I changed my mind. It'd be faster for me to just do single combatant sparring for now. Maybe next time, Bri."

"Fine, but I won't go easy on you, Master."

"I would expect no less from you."

With that, Bri leaped towards Kakashi, who sunk into his combat stance, ready for the onslaught about to occur.

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><p>Kakashi jumped forward and threw a punch at Deimo. Deimo blocked the blow with his forearm, and Kakashi grunted, remembering now that Deimo wore bracers. He jumped back and called out, "When did you master water walking?"<p>

"Last year. I decided it was time to start being serious about being a ninja, so I redoubled my efforts studying. The results were... most agreeable." With that, Deimo started running towards him. He threw a couple shuriken at Kakashi in an attempt to confuse him so he could land another hit.

Kakashi caught the shuriken by putting his fingers through the holes in the center of each, before throwing them back. Deimo simply backhanded them out of the air with his left arm.

Kakashi's eye narrowed, _So that's why he has the gauntlet._ But that's all the time he had before he was set upon by Deimo. To his surprise, he actually had to block several strikes instead of simply dodging all of them. Each strike that he blocked, though, hurt more than it usually would, due to Deimo's gauntlet and bracers.

Then, there was an opening, and Kakashi didn't waste it. He slammed his fist into Deimo's stomach, and Deimo flew back, and into the river.

"There we go. That should take care of him. Now, for the others..."

"Not so fast!" Deimo was clambering out of the water, using its surface for support. He stood unsteadily, but then sunk into his combat stance, "It will take more than one blow to knock me out, Kakashi."

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><p>Shikamaru was having a hard time. He hadn't hit Kakashi even once. He couldn't figure out how to, either. Or, at least, not a way that didn't involve either someone else's help, or a lot more work than he was willing to put into this exercise.<p>

He had used the upfront martial arts appoach, which didn't work at all, but then he fell back on using ninja tools and his **Shadow Mimicry** **Technique** to capture this Kakashi and see if he was a clone that way. Nothing had worked.

He jumped back and placed the tips of his fingers touching each other, with his palms far apart and his hands facing downwards.

_Is that a hand seal?_ The Kakashi clone thought, while backing up cautiously, not wanting to reveal his disposition, yet. This positioning lasted for perhaps thirty seconds before Shikamaru opened his eyes and performed a substitution, and the Kakashi clone had to leap back a couple times in quick succession before sliding to a halt and looking for Shikamaru, not realizing he was already gone.

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><p>Bri was engaged in a martial arts battle with Kakashi, if you could even call it that. Kakashi seemed almost overwhelmed, and yet he hadn't even had to block one of her strikes, yet. She kicked at him and he jumped back.<p>

While they were fighting, they had been moving a lot. Now, they were in their own clearing, a little while downstream from Deimo's fight. Bri saw her opportunity as Kakashi was in the air.

Her hands blurred as she flew through a series of hand seals, and she called out, "**Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique**."

Her Kakashi's eyes widened, and then he turned to steam.

_A water clone. Just as Shikamaru thought._

She turned and started making her way back to Deimo. It was time to form up again.

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><p>Bri and Shikamaru landed in the clearing that Deimo was fighting in before at the same time. They nodded to each other, then looked around for the battle, only to see Kakashi and Deimo fighting on the water.<p>

"How troublesome. Looks like we can't help him, after all." Shikamaru sat down.

Bri stayed standing up for a couple more seconds before sitting down next to him, _You can do it, Deimo._

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><p>Kakashi noticed the other two Apprentices landing and sitting down in the clearing. <em>Well, at least I don't have to fight all three right now. Deimo will be trouble enough, it seems, and I don't want to pull out my trump card on Apprentices, I'd never live that down if anybody heard about it.<br>_

"Don't get distracted, Master!" called Deimo as he struck Kakashi in his chest, making him stumble backward and almost fall through the waterline from a lapse of concentration.

"Nice job, Deimo, but it looks like you've shown me everything I need to know about your skills." With that, Kakashi went forward and unleashed a flurry of blows, only to be surprised as Deimo dodged every one.

"Did you forget, Master, that my **Eyes of Fate** are active? Surely you've seen them in action before."

"That's right, you can read my actions like a book, can't you?"

"Well, more accurately, I can see them before they happen, but yes."

"Then I guess I'll have to move faster, so you can't even dodge them if you see them coming."

With that, Kakashi's speed doubled, and he flew around Deimo, a few of his attacks were dodged, and a majority were blocked, but then one struck, and Deimo's concentration broke, falling into the water.

As he fell, Kakashi grabbed his hand and declared for everyone to hear, "This spar is over. Nice job, everyone. I think I have a nice idea of where you are right now and where you need to improve."

* * *

><p>He brought Deimo over to the others, and then they all sat down together, and started discussing what Kakashi saw as their strengths and weaknesses, and asked if they knew any techniques beyond what was displayed in their respective battles.<p>

"Well," started Deimo, "I can augment blades with wind or lightning chakra, but I don't know any other techniques, yet."

_Interesting, a dual affinity. Those are surpassingly rare. In fact, I'm surprised he even knows about elemental chakra, already. _"Anyone else?" questioned Kakashi.

"No, I can't do much else yet, it's troublesome to not have much versatility."

"Outside of what your clone has seen, there isn't really anything."

"That's fine. We'll spend the rest of the day training, and then we'll start missions tomorrow."

"Yes, Master," said the trio in unison.


	4. Chapter III: The Wrath of Tora

**Chapter III: The Wrath of Tora**

**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

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><p>Team 7 was on a D-rank mission. One of the most dangerous and feared ones ever to find themselves in the scroll of missions, in fact. This mission was the retrieval of Tora, the Demon Cat of the Leaf Village, as the Apprentices liked to call her. She had gone missing, and they were sent to locate her and bring her back to Lord Fire, who would deliver her back to the client, Madam Shijimi.<p>

This mission was perilous. It had a greatly higher casualty rate than all the other D-ranked missions combined. That was the reason that the ambitious Team 7 Apprentices asked Kakashi to get that mission for them. Unfortunately for them, Kakashi accepted their request. They regretted it soon thereafter.

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><p>"This is The Night. I am at point A."<p>

"This is The Doctor. I am at point B."

There was a short pause before another sentence came over the radios, "This is The Doctor. Where are you, Deputy?"

"This is The Deputy. I am at point C. Did we really have to have code names, Doctor?"

"This is The Doctor. Yes, during missions, code names are a must."

Shikamaru sighed, "This is The Night. We are ready when you give the order, Master."

"This is The Master. All units converge on target."

* * *

><p>Deimo, Bri, and Shikamaru all jumped out of their hiding points and Deimo grabbed Tora. Tora responded by clawing at him. They had predicted this, which is why they had Deimo grab him, but they didn't expect what happened next.<p>

"Uhh... guys? How do you pick up a cat?"

Everyone proceeded to ram their hands against their foreheads so hard that it hurt.

"Just... give her to me," said Bri, "I'm better than you with animals, anyway."

"Fine."

But, as the transfer was underway, their prisoner escaped, clawing at Deimo's shins as she ran, only to find that he was wearing greaves, too, and thus couldn't be harmed easily.

"This is so troublesome..."

"This is The Master. Was the target captured?"

"This is The Doctor. I had her, but she escaped rapidly. This is not what I was expecting when I signed up for this mission. That's the third time she's gotten away from us."

"This is The Master. You know what to do."

They all proceeded to chase Tora, who was already just a speck in the distance.

"How the hell is she so fast?"

"I hear she gets out a lot. Probably just years of practice."

* * *

><p>Tora ran around a corner, and found that the alley she was in had a dead end. She turned around to face Team 7, hissing and surveying her situation, looking for a way out.<p>

"**Shadow Mimicry Technique**"

Suddenly, Tora found that she couldn't move. The female that she saw before walked towards her. She mewed pitifully, but it was too late. Bri picked her up.

* * *

><p>"This is The Deputy. We have her, Master."<p>

"This is The Master. Are you sure? Does she have a red ribbon on her right ear?"

"This is the Deputy. Ribbon confirmed. Target is captured. The mission is a success. Repeat, the mission is a success."

* * *

><p>Deimo, Bri, and Shikamaru started walking back to the Tower of Lord Fire. Along the way, they received looks of pity from some ninjas and admiration from others. They had captured Tora without any injuries. That accomplishment was all but unheard of.<p>

Whispers surrounded them, talking about their success and what it would mean to the future of the Village Hidden in the Leaves:

"They captured Tora without getting wounded! Surely they will grow to exceed even the Three Grandmasters of Legend!"

"I can't believe that _they_ got Tora without even a scratch! They're only Apprentices. Even us three Adepts couldn't do that!"

This and many more was being said around them, and they couldn't help but smile as they heard it. They were already building up their reputation, and this was only their first mission. Bri's eyes sparkled as she imagined what people would say about them in the future, when they were the most recognized ninja ever to exist.

Deimo looked at her, and seeing the expression on her face, he chuckled. She was having delusions of grandeur again, but her wouldn't bring her back down to earth. Not yet. Her eyes were so pretty when she was thinking about her dreams of greatness.

* * *

><p>When they finally arrived at the Tower of Lord Fire, they were granted an immediate audience, wherein the Third Lord Fire, Sarutobi Hiruzen, personally congratulated them on the completion of their mission, before calling down the client to pick up her pet.<p>

Team 7 turned to see a rotund and unpleasant but obviously wealthy woman enter the room. When she saw Tora, she threw money at the Third Lord Fire and rushed over to pick up Tora. As she hugged Tora, and swung her back and forth in her glee, Tora escaped from her clutches, and pounced onto a nearby windowsill, and from there, onto the ground below.

Shikamaru oversaw the spectacle with dismay and thought, _this is so troublesome. Now, we're going to have to go and get Tora _again_, and I don't doubt that it'll be harder than last time._

Just as he finished that thought, the Madam Shijimi called out, "Tora, no!" before turning to the Third Lord Fire and declaring, "Honorable Lord Fire, I would like to request a mission to reclaim Tora and bring her home to me!"

Lord Fire Hiruzen sighed, and looked over to Kakashi beseechingly.

Kakashi told Team 7, "Alright Team 7, looks like we have another mission today!"

With that, the four ninja that composed Team 7 left through the window, ready to renew their quest to capture Tora. Little did they know how much they'd regret it...

* * *

><p>"This is The Master. Has the target been spotted, yet?"<p>

"This is The Doctor. We have not had visual contact. May I have permission to stop visual reconnaissance and start looking into Time?"

"This is The Master. Permission granted. Deputy and Night, continue searching. Doctor, tell us what you see when you have your vision."

* * *

><p>With that, Deimo sat down upon the rooftop he was running on and assumed a meditative posture, closing his eyes. He calmed his breathing and his heart slowly, not noticing the world around him and that his teammates had continued on without him. When his eyes opened, they were a flat, glowing cerulean in color.<p>

He gazed out not into space, but into Time, itself. The world around him was inconsequential as he searched out to look for where Tora would be in about a minute. His instincts guided him, and he saw...

"This is The Doctor. Tora will be at Park 7 in 47 seconds."

With that, he got up, deactivated his **Eyes of Fate**, and rushed to the indicated park, trusting that his teammates would arrive in time.

* * *

><p>If Deimo had waited three more seconds, he would've saw what would happen. Sadly for him and his Apprentice comrades, it was not to be. They had no warning for the travesty that was about to occur. Perhaps it was better that way, though, not knowing the pain they would go through until it happened. Then, they wouldn't have to deal with the fear that came beforehand.<p>

* * *

><p>Team 7 assembled in Park 7 with 7 seconds to spare. As they formed up, they saw Tora saunter out of the treeline, blissfully unaware of their presence. Then, they rushed towards Tora, just wanting to be finished with this mission before it dragged on for a couple hours like last time.<p>

The problem was that this time, Tora was ready for them. She ran up Deimo's left arm, past the gauntlet and the bracer, and scratched his left cheek viciously before jumping over to Shikamaru and clawing all the way down his right arm.

After this, while they were reacting in shock and confusion, Tora ran away, slipping back into the treeline. It would be a while before they followed her.

* * *

><p>"This is The Deputy. Doctor and Night have been injured by the target. I request immediate first aid."<p>

"This is The Master. En route to your position now, ready to provide medical attention."

* * *

><p>Kakashi landed beside the two wounded Apprentices, who were now lying down with pained expressions. He surveyed their injuries before passing Bri a bandage and then starting to wrap Shikamaru's arm with some gauze.<p>

Bri applied the bandage to Deimo's face, blushing slightly as she touched him. When she was done, he said, "Thank you, Bri," and looked at her apologetically, sorry that she had to provide him with first aid, sorry he wasn't more careful.

She looked into his eyes and said, "No problem, Deimo." _I swear, I could get lost in those eyes for an eternity._

After a couple moments, when she was still staring at his eyes, he asked, "Are you okay, Bri?"

She looked away and blushed harder, "Yes, Deimo. I'm fine."

* * *

><p>With their wounds patched up, Team 7 was ready to go out looking for Tora again, except they would be much more careful this time.<p>

They jumped off, all looking in different directions, but staying formed up as one unit. Kakashi jumped back into the background, beyond their sight radius, ready to provide support, but avoiding helping them if he could.

_They're already a great team. After this, I'll probably recommend that they go immediately to a C-rank mission. It'd be a hassle to convince Lord Fire, but they're worth it. I can't wait to see who they'll become._

* * *

><p>Finally, after another ten minutes of looking, Bri saw Tora, "There she is!" she pointed towards a blur running down the street, hectically dodging feet of human and animal, alike.<p>

The others followed her finger to see Tora, and nodded. This time, they would get her, for sure.

* * *

><p>Tora was running down the street. She had evaded the humans for longer this time. Perhaps she would finally be free, away from that abusive monster that they kept on trying to bring her back to.<p>

She found herself in an unpopulated part of town, where nobody else was in sight. She slowed down and yawned.

Suddenly, kunai landed all around her, and she fell down onto her haunches in surprise. Then, hands went around her and she felt herself being lifted up.

* * *

><p>"This is The Deputy. I got her! Identity confirmed. Subject is indeed Tora."<p>

"This is The Master. Good job, everyone. Let's be sure Lord Fire closes the windows when we return her now."

"This is The Doctor. That sounds most agreeable."

* * *

><p>Team 7 found itself delivering Tora to the Fire Lord for the second time today, only this time, things were a little different. Deimo had a large square bandage covering his left cheek, and Shikamaru had gauze wrapped all the way up his right arm.<p>

Lord Fire Hiruzen looked them over and nodded approvingly. They had completed the task again, and still had only two injuries, total, far below the average amount. He would've mentioned as much to them, but bloodthirst was radiating from them at a much higher rate than is usual, so he decided to forgo that bit.

He watched Kakashi close the window and smiled. _Looks like they won't have to do this mission a third time, today._

* * *

><p>After Tora was delivered to Madam Shijimi, and the payment for the two missions was distributed, Lord Fire Hiruzen spoke, "What will your next mission be, Team 7?"<em><br>_

Kakashi replied, "I'd like to talk to you about that in private before we decide, Lord Fire."

"Very well."

Deimo, Bri, and Shikamaru left, not entirely sure what Kakashi was up to, not even Shikamaru knew what they were discussing.

* * *

><p>After waiting for almost 15 minutes, Kakashi left the room and greeted them, "Alright, guys, looks like we'll be doing a C-rank mission starting tomorrow. We'll escort a bridge builder named Tazuna to the Land of Waves."<p> 


	5. Chapter IV: A Long Road to Nowhere

**Chapter IV: A Long Road to Nowhere**

****A/N**: **I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

* * *

><p>Team 7 met up at the client's requested hour of 7 AM near the main gate of the Leaf Village. The Apprentices were all pleasantly surprised with Kakashi showed up on time.<p>

They all had their normal gear on, except that Shikamaru had his right arm wrapped up from his wrist to his shoulder, and Deimo had three long but shallow scratches going down his left cheek that were scabbed over but open to the air. He thought that it would be disagreeable to meet a client with a bandage on him. It'd give the client the impression that he was weak. He didn't want that.

In addition to their normal gear, however, they had a backpack loaded with gear for extended missions. Deimo had used this mission as an excuse to buy some more supplies so that he could display a skillset that he previously had been unable to test, but theoretically was already quite adept at.

The four waited and discussed the best formation to defend their client from various threats when he walked up to them. The Apprentices looked over him disapprovingly.

_This man seems most... disagreeable._

_How troublesome. I can tell already that he's going to be a problem._

_This guy is our client? How is he even allowed to do business with the Leaf Village?_

* * *

><p>The man in front of them was old and getting older, but of a strong build. Obviously, he did more than just design the bridges; he helped build them, himself.<p>

Despite that, he reeked of sake. He was quite clearly by merit of his lightly inebriated state, a drunkard. Tazuna frowned at the three Apprentices.

"A few kids are going to protect me?"

"All due respect, sir," responded Deimo, "We are ninja. You requested a C-rank mission. You will find us capable of bringing you to the Land of Waves safely."

"And I'm an Elite ninja," added Kakashi, "So there won't be any threat to you that we can't neutralize."

"Hmph." Tazuna just turned and started walking down the road that would eventually bring them to the Land of Waves. The three Apprentices quickly formed up with Deimo in front of him, Shikamaru to the right of him, and Bri to the left of him, with Kakashi a few paces behind. Their formation was rather loose, with lots of room for maneuvering. After all, the only threats that they could expect from a C-rank mission were non-ninjas, so they didn't have to worry about quick sneak attacks.

* * *

><p>After a couple hours, they spotted a puddle. Bri didn't really notice it, and Deimo disregarded it to continue looking at the trees that were uncomfortably close to the road. Shikamaru and Kakashi thought it was unusual.<p>

_Something isn't right. It hasn't rained in days. Ugh, this is troublesome. I thought this was only a C-rank mission, we shouldn't have to deal with any ninja._

Shikamaru started whistling a tune and looked at his Team, before glancing at the puddle, then going back to surveying the surrounding forest. Kakashi eye smiled at him, but Shikamaru didn't notice. Tazuna didn't even notice the veiled signal to the Team.

_So, Shikamaru noticed something,_ thought Deimo, as he followed Shikamaru's glance, _Ahh, the puddle. Probably a camouflage technique._

Deimo walked almost imperceptibly faster, until he was about five meters ahead of the group, before pulling out a handkerchief and coughing into it, and then accidentally dropping it to one side of the puddle. He bent over to grab it, then jumped back to be immediately in front of Tazuna, in a ready stance. Tazuna stopped moving, shocked by the unexpected movement.

The "handkerchief" exploded into a roughly 4 meter tall pillar of fire. The puddle disappeared and a shadow jumped away. When it landed, the group got a good look at it. It was a ninja with a scratched out Mist Village forehead protector. On his left hand was a clawed gauntlet with a chain leading back to a corpse of another ninja, who was similarly equipped and lying where the puddle used to be, heavily scorched.

The ninja growled and released the chain on his gauntlet before looking at the group and dropping into a martial art stance.

The three Apprentices spread out while Kakashi defended Tazuna and watched them. Deimo dropped into his personal martial art's stance while the other two readied themselves to provide support if his engagement went south. Not that they expected that it would. By anyone's count, Deimo would be considered a genius when it came to any ninja skill. In fact, even Kakashi had developed a respect for his abilities, even though he regarded him as at best a low Adept in ability.

* * *

><p><em>Alright, this guy seemed to focus mostly on concentrated efforts with his partner. That means that while he'll be a difficult opponent, his strength has been neutralized, <em>Deimo thought as he sized up his opponent,_ I'll probably have to take him alive so that we can question him and learn why he's after Tazuna - if he is after Tazuna, that is_.

As the thought finished, though, his opponent struck out at him with his claws. Deimo simply blocked the attack with his right bracer, before rolling his arm around his opponent's and grabbing the ninja's wrist and pulling towards himself. The ninja lost his footing from the unorthodox counter, and received a strike to his diaphragm for his mistake. He started coughing as he worked to dodge or block the following group of blows. He was fortunate that Deimo only had one hand to attack with, but knew that he wouldn't be able to do much but defend in this position.

Then, seeing that his strategy's benefits were lost, he shoved his opponent away and delivered a flying roundhouse kick to the coughing, stumbling ninja's left temple. Just like that, the ninja dropped down, unconscious. Deimo stood at ready for a couple seconds, to make sure that he wasn't faking, but decided that he wasn't, and pulled out some rope and tied up the former Mist ninja.

Kakashi collected the gauntlets and chain, connecting them and then loading them into his backpack, _The Research and Development Department back in the Leaf Village might like to analyze this, _and then turned to his Team.

"Nice job, all of you. Tazuna, I'd like to have a word with you before we continue on..."

Tazuna looked at him frustratedly, but allowed himself to be lead to the side.

* * *

><p>"Did you know that ninja would come after you?"<p>

Tazuna sighed, "Yes, I did."

"Then why did you ask for only a C-rank mission?"

"Because my country is poor. We couldn't afford anything more than a C-rank mission. You must understand, we are being oppressed by an evil man named Gatou. He has a personal army of goons and has pillaged our land until the people had to beg to feed themselves. That's why I need to be there, to finish a bridge that would connect us to the mainland and liberate our people!"

"Gatou, as in the billionaire Gatou Shipping Co. Gatou?"

"The same."

Kakashi simply glared at him before responding, "I'll put it up to my group as to whether or not we'll continue the mission, but for now I'm bringing this to a B-rank given the ninja forces that we now have to go toe to toe with. I will expect the appropriate pay when the mission is completed."

"I understand, Kakashi. I agree to your terms."

* * *

><p>"Alright guys, so here's the situation. We can go back to the village and have Tazuna talk to Lord Fire about the change in circumstance, or we can just continue on with the mission. I'm putting it up to a vote."<p>

The three Apprentices all looked from one to another before nodding in unison and saying, "We'll continue, Master."

Tazuna thanked each of them individually, and Kakashi told them to go on ahead while he questioned the captured ninja. He'd catch up with them in a couple minutes. With that, they set off in a similar formation to before, sans the rearguard.

"Hey, Deimo," started Bri, "Where did you get that weird explosive note? I've never seen any of them that looked like that."

"I made it this morning," responded Deimo, "You never know when you'll need them, you know?"

"You personally made an explosive note? You know sealing techniques?"

Deimo pulled a book out his bag and showed it to her before putting it back. "Well, I know some. I had to constantly reference a book that I had, but I got a couple interesting explosive note designs that I think should work. I'm glad this one did."

"You _think_ should work?"

"Yeah, well, I hadn't tested them before just now."

Shikamaru grumbled something about how Deimo was being troublesome. Then, Kakashi caught up with them.

* * *

><p>"Alright, guys, it looks like those two weren't the only ones. They were in a group with two more rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist, lead by Momochi Zabuza."<p>

"Momochi Zabuza?"

"He's a former Masked Elite of the Hidden Mist, one of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen of the Mist, and called the Demon of the Hidden Mist," rattled off Kakashi, wanting to give them overall information so that they'd understand how dangerous he was, "If we see him, I'll take him on. Alone. He's a foe beyond any of you. Oh, and just so you all know, that brings this up to an A-class mission."

"Yes, Master," the three Apprentices responded reflexively.

Tazuna grumbled about the increase in price, but he stopped when Kakashi looked at him severely.

* * *

><p>They stopped for the night in a small coastal village right across the Tsunami Channel from the Land of Waves. When Shikamaru asked about the name of the channel, Tazuna just laughed, "It's a poetic name. Honestly, the waves are only a little larger than average. There's nothing to worry about."<p>

They set up a camp on the outskirts of the village, and Deimo read his book on sealing while Bri started to make dinner for the group. Deimo asked if she wanted any help, but she turned him down. She loved to cook, and decided that she'd just do it alone. That way, she got to cook more.

For Bri, it was almost a meditative action to cook. She got to ignore all of the stress of her life and just slow down and focus on the flavors she was creating. She used to cook all the time the night before tests or quizzes in the Academy. It let her calm down.

Kakashi noticed the book Deimo was reading and asked him about it.

"You might want to add to your mental list of my skills "Some Sealing Techniques," just so you know," started Deimo, "I hadn't told you before because I never got to practice, so I wasn't sure if my theories were right. You saw one of my designs earlier, when we were fighting those rogue ninja."

Kakashi just nodded re-evaluating the Apprentice, _This kid never ceases to surprise me. It takes a lot of ingenuity to make your own seals._

When dinner was over, they turned in for the night. There were three tents: one for the client, one for Kakashi, and one for the Apprentices. When Bri noticed, she frowned, but she didn't complain. They were all comrades, and it's not like she didn't know them. Before she fell asleep, she noticed that Deimo didn't wear a shirt when he slept, and she blushed before turning over and then gradually falling asleep.

* * *

><p>It was maybe 4 AM. They had contacted a friend of Tazuna who was waiting for them, and crossed the Tsunami Channel. Shikamaru and Deimo quickly got seasick, and threw up over the sides of the boat a couple times before the journey was complete. Bri loved boats. When she was a kid, her father used to take her on small fishing trips on a lake near the Leaf Village. She chuckled a little at her teammates. <em>They'll get used to it, eventually.<em>

When they arrived, Tazuna's friend departed immediately after they evacuated his boat. He didn't want to be seen with them, just in case Gatou was watching. It didn't pay to make a rich man angry with you. As they walked up away from the shore, they crested a hill to see a beautiful view of the local forestlands. Tazuna turned to face them with his arms outstretched, "Here we are, my friends, the Land of Waves. My home."


	6. Chapter V: An Unholy Encounter

**Chapter V: An Unholy Encounter  
><strong>

**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

* * *

><p>Team 7 was about halfway to Tazuna's home, relative to the point they were dropped off. The journey had brought them through one of the small fishing villages, and they had saw how extreme the poverty was. Men, women, and children were all begging for food, money, or work. The three Apprentices had heard Tazuna's tale before about how bad off the Land of Waves was, but no words could describe the wretched state that was displayed so openly for their eyes.<p>

After that, they had all stopped chatting. There was something so depressing about even seeing that kind of desperation that made them unwilling to talk. They just wanted to keep to themselves and ignore the world around them for a while. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond their control were at play.

Something set off Deimo's senses. He threw a kunai into a nearby bush, then quickly rushed over, ready for combat. All he saw was a white rabbit, terrified for its life. He sighed, _I guess seeing that village impacted me more than I thought..._

When Kakashi and Shikamaru saw, they knew something was up. That kind of rabbit would only be white during the winter, or if it was kept inside year-round, and trained...

Suddenly, Kakashi heard a large blade cutting through the air, flying right towards them, and tackled Tazuna to the ground.

"GET DOWN!"

* * *

><p>The Apprentices dove for the ground as huge sword flew over their heads, driving itself into a tree behind them. Almost immediately, a shirtless male with baggy pinstriped pants landed on its grip with his back facing towards them.<p>

As they clambered up into ready positions, he looked over his left shoulder at them, and they noticed that the lower half of his face was wrapped so that they couldn't see it. He had his forehead protector slanted so that its scratched surface was on the upper left section of his head, and its tie was barely above his right ear.

He just gazed impassively at them. After a couple seconds, Kakashi identified him for his group, "Momochi Zabuza, I presume?"

After he said that, the three Apprentices formed up between Zabuza and Tazuna. They remembered Kakashi's instructions. He had told them before to not engage Zabuza, back when they first learned that they might encounter him.

"I am, indeed. And you wouldn't happen to be Kakashi the Envious, would you? The ninja who's copied over a thousand techniques with his **Eye of Envy**?"

"At your service," Kakashi inclined his head sarcastically.

"In that case, you wouldn't mind handing over the old geezer, would you?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Zabuza. It'd be counterproductive and immediately detrimental to my mission," _I won't be able to take him on without using every advantage at my disposal..._

Kakashi brought his hand up to his headband, pulling it up to reveal his left eye.

* * *

><p>There was a long, vertical scar from below his mask, through the center of his eye, and then up past his headband. His eye was a glowing, sick yellow, with a blood red slit pupil.<p>

Zabuza ripped his sword out of the tree and in a blur, went down to stand on the small lake immediately in front of them.

"**Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique.**"

A fog rose up from the water and surrounded everything, making it incredibly difficult to see. Almost immediately, Kakashi responded my emitting chakra to more or less dissipate the mist. There was no sign of Zabuza.

The three Apprentices were fazed by the intense bloodthirst that made the air almost viscous, but then, they heard Kakashi say comfortingly, "Don't worry, I won't let my teammates die."

His words had a calming effect on them. They all relaxed a little, but remained alert. Kakashi would protect them. They would try their best, but they could rely on their Master.

Zabuza appeared in the middle of the Apprentices formation, reading to sweep his blade through all of them, "I don't know about that," and then he continued, addressing the four soon-to-be corpses around him instead of Kakashi, "This is the end for you."

* * *

><p>Kakashi flashed forward and barreled Zabuza past his teammates and when they stopped, it was clear that Kakashi had run Zabuza through with a kunai. The only problem was that instead of blood, Zabuza's wound was leaking water.<p>

The Zabuza in front of Kakashi turned to water and lost its form, just as another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and swung his sword straight through Kakashi's waist. Kakashi, however, also fell apart into a small aerial puddle of water.

Kakashi put a kunai up to Zabuza's neck, standing behind him almost casually.

"It's over, Zabuza."

"Is it, though? You don't understand. You can't beat me if you just copy my techniques to use them against me with that damn **Eye of Envy**. You drew attention to your clone so that I'd think that it was the original. I see it now. The only problem is..."

The real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, "I'm not that easy to defeat."

With that, he cleaved his blade horizontally towards Kakashi, taking out his own clone, but Kakashi dodged it hastily. During the follow-through, the blade was driven into the ground. Zabuza used it as support as he threw a roundhouse mule kick right into Kakashi's chest, sending him flying into the water.

Zabuza ran forward and dove in to follow Kakashi. When Kakashi surfaced, Zabuza appeared behind him.

"**Water Style: Water Prison Technique.**"

Kakashi was surrounded by a sphere of water. He couldn't move. Zabuza's hand was touching the surface of the sphere, providing it with its shape and strength.

A water clone of Zabuza jumped down from the trees to be in between the Apprentices and their imprisoned Master, guarding the original Zabuza from them.

Kakashi knew that he couldn't get out, couldn't help his Team, "Everyone! Get Tazuna and run! You can't beat him! He can't move as long as he has me trapped with this technique, and his water clone has a limited range before it dissipates. Run, now!"

Deimo grimaced, then said to himself, "Running isn't an option anymore. Without Master Kakashi, we won't be able to get away next time, and he _will_ come again. That leaves only one option: saving Kakashi."

With that, he ran forward, throwing a few kunai to cover his approach. The water clone just used his sword to bat them out of the air, and when Deimo tried to kick the clone, the result was Deimo flying back from a backhand.

He grunted, "I guess that approach won't work," then rose up and said, "Bri, I have a plan. But I'll need your help."

* * *

><p>Zabuza's clone chuckled, then said, "You seem confident, but is it just arrogance? Remember that I batted you away like a fly last time."<p>

_This isn't good,_ thought Kakashi, _They're going to fight Zabuza,_ "What are you doing?! I told you to run away! The battle was lost when I got caught! Retreat! Our mission is to protect Tazuna, did you forget?!"

The three Apprentices looked apologetically at Tazuna, who responded with, "Don't worry about it. I'm the cause of all of this. Sorry. If you want to fight, go ahead!"

Deimo grinned, then asked Bri, "You ready?"

Zabuza chuckled again, amused that they were intent on continuing to oppose him, "You still don't understand, do you? You're just kids, you can't take me on. When I was your age, my hands were already bathed in blood."

"The Demon of the Hidden Mist," said Kakashi.

"So you know?"

Kakashi responded, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Some time ago, the Village Hidden in the Mist was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist. In that village, there was a final test that was required to become a ninja..."

"So you know about the final test that was there..."

"So what? We had to do a final test, too!" declared Bri, "It's not like they're uncommon."

Zabuza just laughed, "You misunderstand. In my exam, we had to kill at least one other student. People we'd eaten with and were friends of. They selected everyone's closest friend as their opponent. To kill them was to prove that we put our village above our feelings."

"Ten years ago," continued Kakashi, "They had to change that test. The year before, a _monster_ had appeared that gave them no other choice..."

* * *

><p>"A monster, Master?" asked Shikamaru, "What did this monster do?"<p>

"He was a small boy who wasn't even a ninja, yet. He singlehandedly and mercilessly killed more than 100 other Students."

Zabuza raised his head and said sentimentally, "That was so fun." Then, his eyes looked back down at Deimo and Bri with a malevolent sparkle, and his clone jumped forward and hit Bri, but when he continued on to elbow her, he saw Deimo coming in and jumped back to dodge his kick.

Deimo guarded Bri as she stood up, then nodded to her and threw a strange off-white kunai at Zabuza. The clone dodged, and heard a hissing sound coming from the kunai but he didn't have time to worry about it...

"**Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.**"

"**Wind Style: Gale Palm Technique.**"

The clone jumped up to try and dodge the fireball, only to notice that the wind technique was flying directly toward him, and it had caught fire from the fireball.

The clone disappeared into a small cloud of steam, vaporized by the beam of fire that continued on straight through it for another few meters before dissipating. The real Zabuza, however, wasn't spared from their onslaught...

Zabuza shifted to avoid the kunai that Deimo had thrown before, but noticed that it was hissing as it flew by him. He pulled his arm out of the prison and jumped haphazardly away, correctly guessing that he didn't have much time.

* * *

><p>The kunai exploded into an impressively controlled arc of flame. If Zabuza hadn't moved, the arm that was connected to the prison would've been cut off at the elbow by the fires, even though the rest of his would've been unharmed.<p>

Zabuza was not pleased. He pulled out his sword and shouted, "It isn't wise to make me mad, boy!"

Zabuza appeared in front of Deimo, swinging his sword downwards. Kakashi promptly appeared in between the two and blocked the attack with a kunai. Afterwards, he shoved with all his might, and Zabuza flew back onto the lake.

Kakashi jumped over to stand about 5 meters to his side. The two turned to face each other, and they started forming a long series of synchronized handseals.

"**Water Style: Water Dragon Technique.**"

The technique name was called out by two voices in unison and two immense dragon-shaped figures rose out of the water and rapidly worked to destroy each other. The result was water flooding out to become temporarily waist high back where the apprentices were.

_Damn it, he used his **Eye of Envy** to copy my technique!_

Kakashi and Zabuza clashed under the two raging leviathans. After a couple seconds, the water settled and returned to normal. The two both jumped back, then started circling each other, Kakashi perfectly mirroring Zabuza.

* * *

><p>Zabuza grew frustrated and stopped to start forming a technique, only to see that Kakashi immediately did the same. His eyes narrowed, and he started slowly forming handseals to punctuate his sentences.<p>

_This guy... my movements are being perfectly-_

"Predicted by him," finished Kakashi.

_What?! He read what I was about to say in my mind?! Damn, this guy-_

"Has such an unpleasant eye, right?"

"What you're doing is just copying! Nothing original!"

Kakashi joined in, and they both said at the same time, "You can't beat me, you monkey!"

Zabuza started forming handseals faster and shouted, "I'll make it so that you'll never open that copycat mouth of yours again!"

Kakashi followed perfectly, but they Zabuza stopped when he saw what looked like himself standing behind Kakashi, _What is this? An illusionary technique?_

Kakashi formed the remaining handseals for the technique, then shouted:

"**Water Style: Great Vortex Technique.**"

_What?!_

Water formed a large sphere around him then exploded outwards with great force, inundating their battlefield and washing Zabuza away.

_I was supposed to be the one to use that technique, but he finished it first!_

Eventually, Zabuza was stopped by a tree. Unfortunately for him, he was rammed against it pretty fast, and he was already fatigued, so he couldn't do anything but just stay there leaning against the tree as Kakashi appeared beside him.

"You're done, Zabuza."

"Why? Can you see the future?!"

"Yes. You're going to die here," Kakashi brandished a kunai menacingly and thrust it towards Zabuza's throat. He stopped the motion when two senbon flew into Zabuza's neck, killing him instantly.

* * *

><p>He turned to see a masked ninja standing on the branch of a nearby tree. he wore a loose blue kimono over a loose brown longsleeved shirt, with a brown sash and large brown shorts. His hair was long and black, with his bangs tied together into two ponytails and the rest of his hair with a bun.<p>

"He's dead," the new arrival said, conveying a sense of finality.

Kakashi knelt beside Zabuza's corpse and checked his pulse, "So he is."

The ninja bowed to Kakashi and said, "Thank you. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza. Your battle gave me the opening I needed."

"That mask... if I remember correctly, you must be a Hunter Elite from the Mist Village."

"You are very well informed," the Hunter replied.

_From his height and voice, he must not be that much older than my Apprentices... He's no ordinary kid, though._

The Hunter jumped down and landed beside Zabuza, then lifted him and said, "Your battle ends here. I must go dispose of this corpse now. If has many secrets that must be destroyed. If you'll excuse me."

* * *

><p>With a swirl of leaves, the Hunter and Zabuza's body were gone. Kakashi sighed and lowered his headband back over his eye, "Our mission isn't over, yet, Team 7. Let's take Tazuna to his house."<p>

Tazuna chuckled, "Sorry again for the delay, everyone. You're welcome to rest at my house, though!"

"All right, let's go, and cheer up, guys!" said Kakashi, before turned and fainting from exhaustion.

Bri rushed over and started shaking him, "Is he okay?! Master Kakashi?!"

Shikamaru walked over and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "Don't worry, Bri. He's probably just exhausted from his fight. It's troublesome, though, we'll have to take turns carrying him for the remainder of our trek."


	7. Chapter VI: A Week's Respite

**Chapter VI: A Week's Respite**

**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

Forewarning: I got rid of Inari. He's an annoying little kid who's suppose to emphasize the strength of Naruto's character and ability to change people for the better, but since Naruto isn't here, his purpose fades to nothing, and he becomes just an annoying little kid. Since I'm not fond of annoying little kids, he was removed.

* * *

><p>Kakashi woke up with a pounding headache. His entire body ached as he struggled to prop himself up. He surveyed his surroundings. He was resting in the center of a very plain room, <em>How did I get here..?<em>

_Oh! I exhausted myself from overusing my **Eye of**_** Envy**._ My Apprentices must have brought me here. But..._ where_ is here?_

As that thought finished, the door opened to admit a young civilian woman with long black hair. Upon seeing him up, she said, "Oh, you're up. Lay back down, you should rest. Are you hungry? Do you need anything? I heard you exhausted yourself guarding my father from an Elite ninja."

Kakashi let her gently push him back down so that he was laying down again, "I'll probably need to rest for a week... Can I talk to my Apprentices?" Then, as an afterthought, "You're Tazuna's daughter?"

"Yes, and yes. My name is Tsunami. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Kakashi. The same." Kakashi managed to grunt out. He was already feeling tired again, but he had to talk to his Apprentices before he went back to sleep.

With that, she left, only to return shortly thereafter carting along three excited young ninja.

"Master Kakashi!"

"Deimo, Bri, Shikamaru. It's good to see you. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it, Master Kakashi?"

"Zabuza is probably alive."

* * *

><p>It took a little for that to sink in. Finally, Bri spoke out, "But he was dead! You checked his pulse and everything!"<p>

Shikamaru responded for Kakashi, "That Hunter Elite took the body. We didn't see it destroyed. It's feasible that Zabuza was just in a near-death state, and the Hunter carried him away so that he could recover. This possibility is also reasonable because his weapon of choice was senbon. Remember, the rogues were traveling in a group of four. It's troublesome, but it makes sense."

Bri crossed her arms, but didn't respond.

"Deimo..."

"Yes, Kakashi?"

"Can you lead the others in training for today? Tree climbing."

"That sounds agreeable, Master. Will that be all?"

"Yeah. I need to rest some more. Good luck, all of you." And just like that, Kakashi was asleep again.

"Come on, guys. Let's go train."

* * *

><p>"Deimo?"<p>

"Yes, Bri?"

"What did he mean by tree climbing? I'm assuming he doesn't mean just normal tree climbing?"

They had reached a clearing surrounded by large trees. Deimo responded to her question by approaching a nearby tree and _walking up it_. Bri looked surprised, and Shikamaru had his normal subdued analytical expression.

When Deimo reached a high branch, he stood on it and turned down to face them. He threw a couple kunai near their feet.

"You'll need to channel chakra into your feet to make them grip the tree. Pay attention, though, because if you don't put in enough, you won't be able to grip to tree, and if you put in too much, you'll end up putting your foot through the tree. Use the kunai to mark your progress. Does that sound agreeable, or do you need more explaining?"

The other two just nodded, then picked up the kunai nearest to them and started running up the tree. While they ran up, slashed the tree, and fell down over and over again, Deimo sit down on the tree's trunk so that he could practice his chakra control and pulled out a book on sealing to read while he waited for them to either ask him for help or succeed in climbing all the way up.

* * *

><p>The first time Bri tried to run up, she was good for the first couple steps, but then her foot dug into the tree, and she had to quickly cut the tree before jumping away, <em>I didn't think it'd be so difficult to keep a constant amount channeled.<em>

Shikamaru, conversely, slipped on his third step, and fell down, landing in a lump on the ground, _This is so troublesome. It looks like it'll require some effort to do this right..._

Deimo just sat there impassively, trying to commit the language of sealing to memory. It was much more complicated than most people thought. Most of those untrained in the arts would think that one seal did one thing, and that was that, but in actuality, it was much different. Each seal actually was composed of several seal fragments in a similar way to words making sentences. The fragments controlled what the seal would do, when it was activated, etc.

It took him a year to design those two new explosive notes that he had used. He had no doubt that any more expeditions into the design of a new seal would take longer, though, because explosions were the easiest things to make with seals.

_God, it'd be easier if I just had clones to study with me.__ I'll have to ask Kakashi to teach me a cloning technique later on._

* * *

><p>Most of the afternoon passed like this, with Deimo sitting on a tree and his teammates running up them. When it was time for dinner, he got up and walked down the tree. When he finally got to the ground, he grunted. Sitting on a tree for hours using your only your chakra for support was definitely draining. <em>Whatever,<em> thought Deimo,_ That just means I need the practice. With practice comes agreeable results. If it didn't feel this tiring, than it certainly wouldn't be worthwhile.  
><em>

He surveyed the marks on his teammate's trees. Bri had made a lot more progress than Shikamaru, but neither were close to mastering the exercise. He called them down, and together, the three Apprentices went back to Tazuna's house to eat dinner.

* * *

><p>The next day, Deimo was at the bridge watching over Tazuna while his Master recovered and his teammates trained. He yawned. <em>I'm not really a morning person.<em>

"You look bored by yourself. Where's the girl and the bored-looking guy?" Tazuna asked as he passed by.

"They're training using the tree climbing exercise."

"What about you?"

"I mastered it a little over a year ago, so Master Kakashi told me to guard you."

"Really?"

Deimo just glared at him.

A worker came up to Tazuna. "Tazuna, I've been thinking... can I quit?"

"W-why all of a sudden?! Not you, too..."

"Tazuna, we've known each other for a long time. I want to help, I really do, but if I get too involved, Gatou will come after me, too."

Tazuna sighed and put a hand on his shoulder, "I understand. You have a family that you need to protect and support."

* * *

><p>Bri glared at the tree. She'd been trying to run up it all day, and all of yesterday, but it didn't seem like she was making any progress. She looked over to see Shikamaru looking at her determinedly.<p>

_I won't lose to a girl. If people heard about it, it'd be too troublesome._

After a minute, they both got up, then ran at their respective trees in unison.

Shikamaru started falling first, and when he landed, he looked up to see that Bri was still running up the tree.

After a couple seconds, she lost her grip and fell down, too. When she landed, she noticed that Shikamaru was advancing faster than her, now. She walked over and asked him, "Hey, Shikamaru, what did Deimo tell you when you asked for tips? I forgot to ask him."

"I won't tell you," said Shikamaru, _I won't give her equal footing if she's already ahead._

Bri glared at him, before turning to face her tree again, "Fine."

* * *

><p>"This has been really fun! It's been a while since I've eaten with this many people!" said Tazuna. They were all eating dinner. Shikamaru and Bri were eating faster than the rest, in an attempt to get energy to get stronger, or something.<p>

Deimo didn't understand that. He'd never speed through food when there were so many tastes to savor. He just liked food too much.

When the meal was over, they were all having tea. Except Deimo, who wasn't a fan of tea (weirdo), and was just drinking water.

Shikamaru noticed a picture on the wall with three people, Tazuna, Tsunami, and another man were all smiling in it. Despite the obvious population of the picture, there were only two inhabitants of the house, "Who's the man in that picture?"

"It's my husband," Tsunami started simply.

"He was known as a hero in this town," continued Tazuna grimly, his features darkening with melancholy as he saw Tsunami excuse herself from the room.

* * *

><p>"Tsunami used to laugh a lot back then, but... Tsunami changed after the incident that happened to her husband.<p>

"The word "courage" was forever taken away from the people on this island, including Tsunami, after that day, and that incident..." The sentence trailed away. Kakashi was curious. The story he was about to tell would be relevant to their mission, he knew it.

"What happened?" Asked Kakashi, "What was the incident?"

"To explain the incident," Tazuna responded, "I will need to talk about the man who was known as a hero on this island," Tazuna paused and wiped away his tears.

"A hero?" Asked Bri, now also invested in the story.

"It was about three years ago that the man and Tsunami first met each other. She saw him rescue a drowning boy, and went to talk to him. Some kids had thrown his dog into the water, then shoved him in after them.

"His dog could swim, but the kid, unfortunately, could not. The kids left shortly thereafter, leaving him to drown. The man saved the kid and brought him to a campsite. He scolded the kids and told their parents. He cooked some fish and talked to the kid about being courageous.

"His name was Kaiza. He was a fisherman who came to this island seeking his dream. Tsunami was inspired by him, and regularly met him after that incident. She quickly grew to fall in love with him. It didn't take long for him to become a member of our family.

"Kaiza was also a guy that we needed in this town. The dam broke during a heavy rain storm once, and someone had to jump in to attach a rope to the failing part so that the people could pull it shut. Kaiza volunteered without a second thought, even though the venture may well have cost him his life.

"The town was saved. After that day, the people started hailing him as a hero. Shortly thereafter, though, Gatou came to this town. One night, they took Kaiza hostage and broke his arms, before executing him in public. That was the day this Land's courage faltered, but none were affected more than Tsunami.

* * *

><p>Bri growled and got up, only to fall down.<p>

"What're you doing, Bri?"

"Are you going to practice? You've molded too much chakra today. To continue might have unfortunate consequences."

Slowly, unsteadily, Bri rose to her feet, "I don't care. I'm going to prove to the people of this town that lawless scum like Gatou will never win."

With that, she walked out.

* * *

><p>"Good morning," said Deimo as he walked into the dining room.<p>

"Where's that other one? The girl... Bri?"

"She went out to train last night and didn't come back. She probably passed out from chakra exhaustion. Don't worry, she'll be fine," Deimo responded almost dismissively.

Tsunami was unconvinced, "But she's a child, and she stayed out all night. Are you sure she's fine?"

"There's no need to worry," Kakashi responded, "She's a decent ninja even if she doesn't look like much."

Shikamaru got up, "I'm going for a walk."

* * *

><p>Bri woke up to a beautiful, tranquil voice, "You're going to catch a cold if you sleep there."<p>

She opened her eyes to see a female with long, black hair and a pink kimono with a white sash on. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes, "Who are you?"

The girl just smiled at her.

"What're you doing in the forest this early in the morning?"

"Picking herbs."

"Herbs?"

"Plants that cure injuries and illnesses," the mysterious girl responded, amused.

"You need help?"

"Sure."

* * *

><p>"Why're you doing such a tedious job so early in the morning?"<p>

"What were you doing here so early in the morning?"

Bri responded, "Training!"

"So you're a ninja?"

Bri indicated the forehead protector she wore around her waist, "Yep."

"Wow. That's amazing! But... why were you training?"

"Well... to become stronger, of course."

"You look strong enough already, though."

"No, I want to become stronger and stronger."

"Why?"

Bri had to think about that for a second, "To become someone who can guard my village - my friends and family."

"So you're doing it for someone else? Is there someone specifically? Someone... precious to you?"

Bri blushed. That was all the answer the girl seemed to need, based upon her giggle, but then her face became oddly serious. There was a few seconds pause before, "A person is truly strong only when they protect someone precious to them."

Bri smiled, "I understand that."

The girl stood up and picked up her basket of herbs, "You'll get strong. I hope I'll see you later. Oh, and I'm a boy."

Bri just looked at the stranger as he continued away, out into the forest.

Shikamaru showed up shortly after that, and the competition to climb trees was rekindled.

* * *

><p>"Bri?" called Deimo, "Are you here?"<p>

A kunai flew down. He looked up to see Bri on a tall tree branch, and smiled at her.

_Looks like she got better,_ Kakashi thought approvingly. Then, he saw that Shikamaru was resting on a similar branch, looking at the clouds, _Both of them have__. It's good that they've made so much progress..._

_Zabuza will probably strike tomorrow..._


	8. Chapter VII: A Dead Man's Revenge

**Chapter VII: A Dead Man's Revenge**

****A/N**: **I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

I would love to hear any opinions related to the story whenever you develop any. Feedback is always appreciated. I love all of you. Especially you. Yeah, you. You rock.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru woke up. He yawned and before rising and going down to get breakfast. He almost immediately noticed that the only other person in the house was Tsunami. When he asked her where the others went, she simply said, "The Bridge," before leaving the room to go cry about how miserable her life was in private.<p>

_Troublesome. I overslept. They should've woken me-_

The thought was interrupted by the door being slashed open by a katana.

* * *

><p>The bridge was littered with bodies. Tazuna started walking slowly backwards, afraid that his workers' fate would soon be his. Kakashi, Bri, and Deimo just started looking around for the threat. They weren't surprised that this happened. The culprit was most likely...<p>

"Hello again, Kakashi," said Zabuza, as he appeared in the midst of the corpses, with the Hunter that carried him away beside and behind him.

"Zabuza..." growled Kakashi in response.

Mist rose up from the ground below and obfuscated everyone's vision. Deimo threw his hat back to land and activated his **Eyes of Fate**. In this mist, it was the only way he'd see an attack coming. The ninja formed up around Tazuna, ready to protect him.

"Sorry that I had to keep you waiting, Kakashi... and you brought those two with you... how pitiful," Zabuza's voice echoed in the mist, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Suddenly, Zabuza appeared beside them. Several, in fact.

"I'll show you who's pitiful!" declared Bri, grinning at him grimly.

Kakashi eye smiled at her, "Go for it, Bri."

Bri disappeared and in a blur, all six water clones were cut down around them.

"Oh? She can defeat the water clones on her own? That kid has gotten stronger," the mist faded enough to reveal that Zabuza and the Hunter hadn't moved, yet, "A rival has appeared for you, Haku."

"It seems like it," responded Haku.

The two sides glared at each other for a few moments. The real battle was about to begin.

"Looks like my prediction was right," started Kakashi.

"Your prediction?"

"I had guessed that the Hunter was allied with you earlier. No matter how you look at it, you're on the same side, and lined up so nicely... "

"I hate conceited kids like him... let me take him, Kakashi!" Bri took a step forward, glaring at Haku.

Haku spun towards Bri at an alarming pace, but she was ready. She'd win this fight, she knew it.

* * *

><p>As the door's fragments fell onto the ground, two men walked in. They definitely weren't ninja, just thugs with swords, but they definitely looked the part of thugs. They were covered with tattoos and scars, and had insane, murderous looks in their eyes.<p>

Shikamaru was surprised, but not particularly impressed by the swordsmen.

"**Shadow Mimicry Technique.**"

And it was over before it began. Tendrils of shadow flew out and stopped his opponents dead in their tracks. He made them punch each other out simultaneously, then released the technique and tied them up to a tree a little bit away from the house, taking their swords away from them.

Tsunami came down to see what the ruckus was, and saw that Shikamaru had stopped two men that undoubtedly worked for Gatou. She was surprised, _But even Kaiza couldn't stand up to them..._

Shikamaru looked back at her and grinned distractedly, "I probably should go support my Team. Can you watch over these two while I'm gone. Here, have one of their swords." He tossed her one of the katana, then strapped the other two his back and took off.

_This whole situation is troublesome. I hope I'm there in time to help._

* * *

><p>Bri blocked Haku's first couple attacks before they locked kunai and senbon, halting the fight, temporarily, "I don't want to kill you, but you won't back off, right?"<p>

"Of course not," Bri returned.

"As I thought... but you won't be able to keep up with me for the remainder of the fight... and I'm already two steps ahead of you."

"How so?"

"The first step is the water coating the ground. The second is that I'm keeping one of your arms busy, so you can only take or block my attacks," with that said, Haku started forming one-handed seals.

_What? He's creating seals with one hand..?!_

"**A Thousand Water Needles of Death.**"

Haku stomped, forcing water into the air. Once there, the water formed needles surrounding the two ninja.

"Bri!" Deimo exclaimed quietly to himself.

_Alright... focus... just channel chakra to my legs, and..._

The needles converged to their position, and Haku jumped back so that he wouldn't get caught in the line of fire. When he looked, though, he couldn't see her opponent. Then, he heard a shuriken flying towards him, and jumped back. He looked up to see Bri in the air, throwing a couple more shuriken at him. He jumped back behind each one, and ended crouching next to the last one.

When he stood up, he heard Bri say behind him, "You're really slow. Now, you can only receive or block _my _attacks." They jumped apart, before charging back towards each other and beginning a fast-paced exchange of punches, kicks, dodges, and blocks, before Bri rammed her knee right into Haku's mask, sending him skidding back a couple meters over the damp ground.

* * *

><p>"Haku... was slower?" Zabuza said aloud in disbelief.<p>

Bri just grinned at him.

"You have no right, Zabuza, to declare my team inferior just because we have children. Bri is the best rookie in the village, Shikamaru is the most intelligent child in the village, and Deimo has more tricks up his sleeve than I've seen in any other Apprentice." Kakashi informed his opponent dryly.

Zabuza chuckled for a couple seconds, then addressed Haku while still facing the present members of Team 7, "Haku, do you understand that if hold back, you'll be defeated by them?"

"Yes... it's a shame..." Haku formed a handseal, and ice mirrors began forming to surround Bri in a dome.

"**Secret Art: Ice Style: Crystal Mirror Dome Technique.**"

Haku _walked into_ the nearest mirror, and an image of him appeared in each one.

"Dammit," grunted Kakashi as he took off towards the strange technique, but his way was blocked by Zabuza.

"I'm your opponent, remember? He's a goner now that Haku has used that technique. There's no need to worry for him, anymore. It'd just be a waste."

* * *

><p>"Let's begin," Haku's voice came out of every mirror, "I will show you my true speed."<p>

With that, senbon started flying through the air, striking Bri.

A worried call of "Bri!" was heard, coming from Kakashi and Deimo. Bri ignored it, needing to focus on not dying at the moment.

* * *

><p>Bri's pained, wordless call was the only response they got. Deimo growled, then asked tensely, "I'm sorry Tazuna, but may I help her?"<p>

"Yes. Go save your friend."

Deimo then bolted towards the dome. There were only two opponents, and both were currently occupied. Plus, Shikamaru would soon be here to guard Tazuna, anyway, and Bri needed his help _now_.

Zabuza looked at Deimo and took a step towards him, but Kakashi forced him back, "I'm your opponent now, remember?"

* * *

><p>The senbon storm stopped as Haku left her mirror to stop Deimo from intervening. She threw a couple senbon at him, but it didn't help, much...<p>

"**Wind Style: Gale Palm Technique.**"

Haku's senbon flew back and struck him in the shoulder. He grunted from the pain, then pulled them out as Deimo approached. Ninja tools wouldn't help him, right now.

Haku sunk into a martial arts stance, knowing that Bri was too injured at this point to assist, and figuring that Deimo was probably weaker than her.

Haku reminded himself as Deimo slid to a stop and took his own stance, one that Haku had never seen before _He has the most tricks up his sleeve out of all the Apprentices Kakashi has seen..._

"You're finished, Haku-" growled Deimo. He appeared angry, but was obviously in control of himself.

"Deimo," a voice called, cutting off his rant before it began, "take this, I've seen you training with one, before."

A sheathed katana sailed through the air into Deimo's hands. Deimo unsheathed the blade and grinned widely, "Thanks, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru landed behind him, "Anytime, Deimo," with his assistance delivered, Shikamaru went over to guard Tazuna from stray or surprise attacks. Just in case.

* * *

><p><em>This is bad,<em> thought Haku,_ I wasn't expecting this. I can't win this fight the way it is...  
><em>

With that, Haku jumped back into a nearby mirror and started attacking Bri in an attempt to lure Deimo inside. It worked fabulously. Deimo didn't give a second thought to running in, but when Haku began to target Deimo, all of his senbon missed.

_Impossible! How can he dodge my senbon?_

Deimo grabbed Bri and tossed her more or less gently outside the dome of mirrors, then chuckled a little and declared, "I see your senbon before you even throw them, it's trivial to dodge them. It will take more than that to hurt me."

"Very well..."

"**Secret Art: Ice Style: Frozen Ninjatou Technique.**"

A ninjatou formed out of ice in front of one of the mirrors, and Haku's arm reached out of the mirror to grab it before pulling it in with him.

"If I cannot harm you with senbon, then I must resort to more... lethal methods. I'm sorry that you must die here, but it can't be helped."

Deimo chuckled again and started channeling lightning chakra into his blade, making it start to spark insidiously, "I'm afraid that you will be the one that falls here."

* * *

><p>Kakashi stood side by side with Zabuza, both watching the fight unfolding, and keeping an eye on the other just in case.<p>

Both of them were surprised, Kakashi because he'd never seen Deimo channel chakra into a blade before (though he had heard that Deimo could, he'd almost forgotten by now), and because he just then realized that Haku had a bloodline ability. Zabuza was because that _squirt_ could channel chakra into his blade, and because he'd been able to dodge Haku's attacks so effortlessly, and forcing him to use a blade of his own, something Zabuza had never expected him to actually use in combat.

"You know your Apprentice won't win, Kakashi. He doesn't have a killer's instinct. Real ninja can't be trained in a peaceful village like yours."

"You may be right, Zabuza, but I believe in him. He's demonstrated several times now that he deserves my belief."

Zabuza just growled and drew his sword, "It's time for our fight to begin."

"So it is," Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector.

* * *

><p>Haku flew by him at immense speeds, something he'd never be able to counter if he didn't know where Haku would be before he was. He'd blocked or dodged all of Haku's strikes so far, but he didn't know how long he could fight at this pace, and at this speed, attacking was impossible. His stamina was his greatest weakness right now.<p>

The blows stopped for a moment. He looked at Haku. His blade had a lot of rather severe nicks in it. Deimo smiled grimly, _Don't mess with lightning chakra enhanced blades. It never pays off._

Then, he noticed that Haku was breathing much more heavily than him, _I bet this technique takes a lot of chakra to maintain._

"You don't have a chance, Haku. Your techniques are draining you dry much faster than mine are for me. I can outlast you. This fight was over before it began. Give up, now. I promise I won't hurt you when you do."

"I'm sorry, but I can't," Haku replied, "Zabuza needs me to finish this task, so I will see it done."

"Very well, then I hope you don't mind if I test out a theory I've developed?"

"What's this theory?" Haku asked, surprised. It was the last thing he'd ever say.

"**Lightning Style:** **One ****Thousand Birds Technique.**"

Deimo's blade _exploded _in his hands from the sudden rush of chakra, and the sound of birds tweeting sounded out all around. Lightning flared out from his right hand, damaging the ground all around him. Deimo charged forward, shoving his hand through the Haku that was talking to him. It was the real Haku, he knew it. He had foreseen that this was how the battle would end in a vision last night.

_So this is what Kakashi meant when he said that he always had another thing up his sleeve, _was Haku's last thought.

The mirrors all shattered when Haku died. Deimo was left with his hand going straight through Haku's chest. He looked triumphant for a moment, then fell down. As he fell, he noticed that he was next to Bri.

_I'm sorry, Haku_.

With that, he departed into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Zabuza cleaved his blade towards Kakashi. Kakashi jumped out of the massive sword's range. Zabuza growled and swung again and again, but Kakashi had no trouble dodging. To his <strong>Eye of Envy<strong>, it looked like Zabuza was moving much, much slower.

Then, they heard the chorus of a thousand birds screaming in a cacophonous rage. Both of their eyes widened.

"You taught him the **One ****Thousand Birds Technique**?!"

"No, I didn't. How did he..?"

"Haku!"

Zabuza disappeared, but Kakashi jumped to where he'd be. He'd revealed his intentions beforehand.

"No," Zabuza was holding Haku's corpse close to him, "no. How could this happen? Your techniques were stronger than mine, Haku."

"I'm sorry, Zabuza, but it's over."

"**Lightning Style:** **One ****Thousand Birds Technique.**"

Once more the birds called out over the bridge. Zabuza tried to block the technique with his sword, but his death was unavoidable.

* * *

><p>Kakashi pulled down his forehead protector with a bloody hand. It was over. He looked over and saw two of his Apprentices unconscious. Deimo from severe chakra exhaustion, and Bri most likely from blood loss. He knelt down to treat Bri. Deimo would be fine, for now.<p>

He had to admit, Zabuza might've won the fight if Deimo hadn't killed Haku and distracted Zabuza. But where did he learn the **One Thousand Birds Technique**? Kakashi was the only other one that could, and it's not like it was easy to do.

He sighed, that'd probably have to wait for another time. For now, he had to make sure that his teammates didn't die, "Shikamaru, help me bring them back to Tazuna's hou-"

He was interrupted by the boisterous laughter of a short, rotund man.

"So, Zabuza's dead, then? I guess that means it'll be easy to kill the rest of you. Men, charge!"

Somewhere upwards of two hundred men ran onto the bridge. Kakashi took a position in between them and his teammates. He knew he wouldn't be able to protect them, but he had to try.

Then, a crossbow bolt struck one of the front runners in the chest. The makeshift army slowed to a halt to see another, much larger army formed from the villagers and lead by Tsunami, who had a hand crossbow and a katana in her hands.

The brutish rabble proceeded to retreat. They knew that they wouldn't be able to beat all of the villagers, and that even if they did, almost all of them would die in the process. They rushed by the now fearful Gatoh, trampling him to death.

Shikamaru, Kakashi, and Tazuna waved to the villagers thankfully. Then, Kakashi turned to his last conscious Apprentice.

"Now, let's take care of our teammates, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome."


	9. Chapter VIII: Home Again

**Chapter VIII: Home Again**

**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

* * *

><p>It had taken a week for Team 7 to recover after the battle at the bridge of the Land of Waves. After some debate, it was decided unanimously that the bridge would be named the Great Shikamaru Bridge. Tsunami had presented the motion, and almost everyone had accepted it readily. Shikamaru, in fact, was the only person that spoke against it, saying something about how it was troublesome because now people would expect more from him.<p>

* * *

><p>When they were on the road, Kakashi finally asked, "Deimo... where did you learn the <strong>One Thousand Birds Technique<strong>?"

"I've been working on it since I heard rumors that you'd be my Master about about a month ago, a couple weeks before we were officially declared to be Team 7. I knew that it was your signature technique, and I knew I had a lightning affinity, so I figured that I'd work to master it. I tried and tried but it just didn't work no matter how I went about it. In fact, the first time I've been able to do it was right then, during that fight. I knew I'd be able to, because I had foreseen it, and right before I used it, it just... _clicked_."

"What do you mean by saying that you've "foreseen" things? I've heard you say it a couple times," interrupted Bri, too curious to wait to ask until when the two were done talking.

"It's part of the **Eyes of Fate**. Every once in a while, usually while we're sleeping, members of the Sunadokei Clan see something that they'll see in the future. Usually, it provides insight into how we win a particularly difficult battle or get through a challenging situation," responded Deimo, "We try to keep it a secret from our enemies, unless we intend on killing them, so don't tell anyone, please? It'd just make our lives harder."

"Alright," Bri said, silently contemplating what this might mean.

"So you can use the **One Thousand Birds Technique** now?" Asked Kakashi, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

"Yeah, but I doubt I'd be able to stay conscious for long afterwards. It uses up a lot of chakra. I can't think of it as anything but a last resort, and even then I'm not sure I should use it in most cases. I have a whole new respect for you, Master."

"I see."

* * *

><p>When they got back to the village, which they did, eventually, they went directly to the Lord Fire before splitting up, agreeing to start practicing again the next day, and then taking more missions afterwards.<p>

It had been a couple weeks since then. They had down exclusively C-ranked missions, but after the excitement of the A-rank mission, they felt rather monotonous. Sure, they got to fight bandits, but bandits weren't A-class missing ninja.

The Apprentices had worked on improving their repertoire. This meant that they learned new techniques, and - in Deimo's case - new seals. Kakashi was so proud of their progress that he said he had a surprise for them...

* * *

><p>The Apprentices showed up at 8:30 AM, an hour and a half after the appointed time of 7. Kakashi showed up some time around 9 AM. He greeted them with an obligatory excuse, "Hello, everyone. I got lost in the path known as life today, so..."<p>

"Don't worry, Master, we've only been here for a half hour or so."

"... I see..."

"You said that there was a surprise, Master?"

"Yes, I do. I signed you three up for the Adept Exams."

* * *

><p>"The Adept Exams, Master?"<p>

"You know, the test you take to become Adepts."

"Troublesome. Being an Adept means more responsibility... I won't take it."

"Before you decide that, I want to inform you that if you take it, you sign up as a team, meaning that if one of you doesn't show up, then none of you would be allowed to."

Bri and Deimo looked towards Shikamaru menacingly.

"Troublesome. I'll take the test."

"Good."

Kakashi then told them all the whens and wheres that were important before continuing on with training. There would be no more missions before the test for Team 7, nothing but a week of training.

* * *

><p>They all showed up to the exam room. There had been a camouflage technique on the floor below that made it look like the right room, but Team 7 had seen through it with minimal observation.<p>

The room they were standing in now had a lot of Apprentices in it. Most of them were at least a year older than Team 7, but they weren't fazed. They walked over to converse with the others from their year.

None of them looked much different than they did back in the Academy, last time they saw them. Everyone had changed, though, and Hinata and Naruto seemed to change the most, Hinata becoming more confident and Naruto becoming more mellow. It wasn't a huge difference, but it was certainly noticeable.

* * *

><p>Deimo smiled when he saw them. He was glad that Hinata was opening up. She was a great person, she deserved to have more self-confidence. He was also selfishly glad that Naruto was quieter. He supposed that's what would happen when he spent so much time around a soft-spoken teammate.<p>

Chouji seemed to be doing well, too. He seemed to be a little less self-conscious and self-depreciative. He still was constantly snacking, as he was wont to do in the past.

Shino looked and acted exactly the same. It'd be silly to expect anything else from him.

Kiba was still a wild dog of a kid, but he seemed to be a little more collaborative than before, there was more give and take in his conversations, rather than them all being just about him.

Ino was still an annoying blonde girl who cared more about her appearance than her skillset, but she was slowly shifting that outlook. She was growing as a ninja. Deimo wasn't sure that she was worthy of participating in the exam, though.

Shikamaru had taken to wrapping up his right arm since the... incident that happened a while ago. When people asked, he said that it just was, and the story was too troublesome to tell everyone who asked him about his arm.

Deimo had started tying his hair back in a 7-component braid. Not for style reasons, he had just been curious if he could before, and he had figured out how to make it work. From then, it became a bragging right, and then a habit. His hair was a little longer, and he had a faint scar from a scratch on the left side of his face from the same incident that caused Shikamaru to start wrapping his arm. He didn't answer any questions about it. He had a katana strapped to his back now. He did answer questions about that.

Bri had not changed much on the outside, but everyone had noticed that she was even more powerful than last time they had seen her. This was saying something, because she was top rookie in their year.

Coincidentally, almost everyone was sure that Shikamaru, the dead last of their year, had gotten much stronger than he should have been considering his placement.

* * *

><p>"Hey, you guys, you should quiet down a little," the nine-part assemblage of rookies turned to see a grey-haired Leaf ninja walking towards them, "You're the nine rookies that just graduated from the Academy, correct? You're all fooling around with those cute faces... This isn't a field trip, you know."<p>

"Who are you to tell us that?" demanded Ino haughtily.

"I am Yakushi Kabuto," Tesponded Kabuto, before continuing, "Look around you."

The rookies did, to see everyone glaring at them, "The ones behind you are from the Hidden Rain. They have a short temper. Everyone's tense because it's right before the exam. I warned you so that you won't get picked on. I guess it can't be helped though, since you're rookies and don't know anything, yet. It makes me remember the old me."

"Kabuto, was it?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this your second time, then?"

"No, seventh."

Everyone turned to him with wide eyes, "This exam takes place twice every year, and it's my fourth year."

"That means you know a lot about this exam, then, right?"

"Yeah."

"So you must be an expert, then, Kabuto."

"But he hasn't passed it," reminded Shikamaru lightly.

"Yeah, that's true," chuckled Kabuto.

"Is the Adept Exam really that difficult? This is even more troublesome than I thought..."

"Maybe I should share some of my information with you, then. We are from the same village, after all," he pulled out a deck of blank cards.

He showed them one card and channeled his chakra into it so that it displayed the numbers of participants, stratified by village, then continued, "I have cards for people, too, if you have anyone you want to hear about?"

"Yes, can you please show me Gaara? Oh, and Rock Lee?" asked Naruto politely.

* * *

><p>Kabuto pulled out the cards for the people, then said, "Let's stary with Lee. He's one year older than you. He's completed 20 D-rank and 11 C-rank missions. His squad leader is Maito Gai. He has exceptional martial arts skills, but everything else is terrible. His teammates are named Tenten, and Hyuuga Neji."<p>

"Next is Gaara of the Desert. There isn't a lot of information here, let's see... unknown D-rank, 8 C-rank, and 1 B-rank mission completed. Oh, and there's a note, apparently, he completed all the missions without a single scratch."

"An Apprentice completing a B-rank without getting hurt? Wow."

"It's surprising, yes, but not overly so. The villages send their top Apprentices here. It's not only Lee and Gaara, but everyone here who's an impressive ninja."

"I suppose that's true."

"Oh, just because I'm curious, what does my card say?"

"Let's see..."

Kabuto revealed the card, "Sunadokei Deimo... Leaf Apprentice, graduated this year, 2 D-ranks, 5 C-ranks, and an A-rank mission completed. High skills all around. Your Master is Kakashi, and your teammates are Bri and Shikamaru. There's a note here that doesn't make sense, though, I'm glad you brought it up..."

"It says you know the **One Thousand Birds Technique**.

"Wow. Where did you even learn that? I've only used it once."

"You do?! But you're only an Apprentice, and a rookie, at that!"

"Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me, either. If it makes everyone else look better, though, I'd be lucky if I could use it twice in as many days without going into a short-term coma."

"I see..."

It was then that the Sound ninja decided to intervene and stop the spread of information...

* * *

><p>Kabuto dodged the blow, but his glasses still cracked.<p>

"Feel free to stop now. You insulted our village. We don't like that."

"I see, so that's the kind of attack that was," Kabuto said, and stood for a second impassively, before falling to the ground and throwing up. Everyone looked curiously, trying to figure out what was up with the Sound ninja's attack.

"I thought you'd be better, you're a veteran of six exams, aren't you?"

"That's enough!" called a proctor, and everyone turned around to see a large, intimidating man in a trench coat with a bandanna forehead protector glaring at the display of aggression, "Your test will start in five minutes. Please enter the testing room. If you are not inside in five minutes, you fail the test. If you prevent others from entering the room, you fail the test."

Shikamaru sighed, "So troublesome..."


	10. Chapter IX: The Trials Begin

**Chapter IX: The Trials Begin**

**A/N**: I do not own Naruto. I have never owned Naruto. Undoubtedly, I never will own Naruto.

Sorry that I didn't update before, but Thanksgiving is always a hectic week in my family, and I had a paper to do, and so on, and so on. Anyway, I'm back, and glad to be back. Hope you like the latest chapter, and I'm relatively certain that I can start writing more, again.

* * *

><p>All the Adept candidates had been organized into a room randomly so that the groups would be split up. The first part of the test - to many people's dismay - was a written component.<p>

"Everyone! Eyes up front for now. I need to go over the rules, and I won't answer any questions, so you better pay attention the first time around..."

"Alright, Rule #1: The test is administered on a point reduction system. You all begin the test with a perfect score of 10 points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong.

"Rule #2: Teams will pass or fail based upon their total scores, rather than individual scores.

"Rule #3: The people around the room are there to watch for any signs of cheating. If they see anything, they subtract 2 points from your score. If they notice any person 5 times, their entire team will fail.

"Rule #4: If any candidate gets a 0, the entire team fails.

"The final question won't be given until fifteen minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have 1 hour, total...

"Begin!"

* * *

><p>With that, every test was turned over, and each person started looking at the exams.<p>

Deimo chuckled, _For each incident of cheating, only 2 points are deducted? I guess that means that we're **supposed** to cheat, then. Shikamaru can answer at least one question on his own, so he won't be a problem, but these are pretty difficult, so I don't know if Bri can.. No matter, I have a plan._

Everyone had alternate means of getting the answers that they sought. Deimo just sat there lazily looking at his test, though. Lots of names were called, perhaps a full half of the group. Once there was only five minutes until the final question was asked, though, he cracked his neck.

_It's go time._

* * *

><p>Deimo stood up, walked over to someone who had finished and looked a little suspicious because he was confident in his work, kicked him out of their seat, took his test, and brought it to Bri. While doing this, he memorized five of the answers. They hadn't planned this beforehand, but she gave him a grateful look that made him know it was a good choice. Afterwards, he sat back down, and scribbled the answers he memorized down.<p>

The proctor looked disapprovingly at him, but since there were only two incidents of cheating - taking the paper for himself, and giving it to his teammate - it was allowed.

There was a quick announcement saying that although Deimo was allowed to do that, nobody else would be, because while his thought was original, if they replicated it it would just be an imitation. Plus, he didn't want this test to become a war zone. Deimo smiled at him, _This is most agreeable_._  
><em>

Not soon after, time was called.

* * *

><p>"Alright! Listen up, here's the tenth and final question! Before I tell you it, though, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."<p>

Just then, a sand ninja walked through the door with one of the sentinels. He had gone to the bathroom perhaps five minutes earlier.

"Ahh, just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom... enlightening. Well, take your seat. These rules are unique to question #10. Listen carefully, and don't let them frighten you.

"Rule #1: Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question-"

"Whoah, what's the catch?!" shouted out a female sand ninja near the back, "If we don't want to do it, what happens then?"

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you will fail the test. That means, of course, that both of your teammates fail, as well."

"If you do accept the question, but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail, you will be barred from taking the Adept Exam ever again!"

"What kind of bogus rule is that?! There's lots of people here who've taken the Exam before!" shouted out Kiba.

The proctor laughed, "I guess you're just unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. If you aren't feeling confident, just skip it and try again next time."

"Now then, if you're ready, the tenth and final question. Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand."

After a couple seconds, one person raised his hand. Once his name was called, others started raising their hand, only waiting so that they wouldn't be first. The panic started to spread.

* * *

><p>There was a slight pause, then Naruto raised his hand. Every one of the Leaf Nine were surprised. Naruto was the most confident out of all of them. If he was going to give up, why shouldn't they? Upon seeing their reaction, the proctor grinned.<p>

Naruto's hand slammed against the table in front of him, "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit, and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren't going to scare me off, no way! Even if I'm stuck as an Apprentice for the rest of my life, I'll still be Lord Fire one day."

With that, he sat down. Everyone else looked shocked, but then more resolute. There was no way they'd leave after that.

"This decision is one that could change your life. If for any reason any of you would rather quit, now is your last chance."

"No way, I never go back on my word. That is my way of the ninja."

78 candidates were left. 26 teams. All the sentinels nodded to the proctor. He nodded back to them.

"Well then, I admire your determination, if nothing else. There's only one thing left to do. That's for me to tell you that you've all passed the first exam."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean? What's the tenth question?!"<p>

The proctor smiled widely at them, "There isn't one. Well, not a written one, anyway. Technically, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."

"So you mean the other nine questions were meaningless?"

"Oh, no, not at all. Quite the opposite, the first nine questions had a very important purpose: to test your ability to acquire information under difficult circumstances."

He went on to explain that it had a lot to do with teamwork and self-confidence, partnered with ability, of course. He explained that he left two Adepts in the room so that there'd be someone to cheat off of (and that Deimo had kicked one), because there was little chance that the Apprentices would even collectively be able to figure out a couple of the questions. He then talked about information and misinformation, and the consequences both would have.

While he was finishing up the explanation, a window beside him shattered, and a female ninja in pretty revealing clothes covered by an open tan trenchcoat landed inside the room, throwing up a cloth banner announcing her to be the second test's proctor: Mitarashi Anko.

* * *

><p>"I'll be your next proctor, Mitarashi Anko. Everyone ready for the second test? Good! Follow me!"<p>

"You're early. Again."

"How many are there? Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? You're test was too easy, you must be getting soft!"

"Or it could just be a strong candidate pool this year."

"They don't look it. I bet that by the time I'm through with them, at least half will be weeded out."

Then she chuckled, "This is going to be fun. Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far, but that's about to change. I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll inform your instructors where you'll have to be. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>The next day, the group met in front of a fenced-in forest.<p>

"This is the location for the second test of the Exam. Training Ground #44, also known as the Forest of Death."

After some antics involving Konohamaru and Naruto, it was decided that there would be a brief intermission so that the Konohamaru Corps. could interview people for the Academy Newspaper.

They proceeded to interview Naruto, his team, and Anko, and a couple others before going back.

* * *

><p>When that tomfoolery was over, everybody was called together so that Anko could tell them their instructions.<p>

"Alright, so you and your teams will be in the Forest of Death for the duration of this exam. You will have to provide your own supplies, and you will receive no support unless you forfeit. There are no rules, so killing - although discouraged - is not banned. Your objective is to get two scrolls and then make your way to the tower in the center of the Forest. These two scrolls must be one Scroll of Heaven and one Scroll of Earth. Each team will be given one of the two prior to entrance into the Forest. This will guarantee that at least half of you will not make it past this test.

"Oh, by the way, there are some forms over there. Once you turn in your teams forms, you get your scroll. The forms state that if you die, nobody can be found accountable, and no legal action can be taken. If your team does not turn in all of your forms, you cannot take this test, and you fail the Exam. Any questions? No? Good?"

With her instructions given, and questions avoided, she smiled at them and left. It was up to them now.

* * *

><p>All the teams had been given scrolls now. Team 7 had a Scroll of Earth. Deimo was the one that they decided would watch it, and he put it inside a storage scroll, so that it'd be hard to find if an enemy team tried to trick them or if they were beaten. Not that there was a great chance of that.<p>

The teams had been split up, each being given a different gate on the outside of the perimeter. This was to assure that it would take some time in order to figure out where they were in relation to each other and the tower, thus making the test that much more difficult.

While they waited for the test to start, Team 7 discussed their strategy. They concluded that they were just going to fight until they got a Scroll of Heaven, and then make their way to the tower. They didn't particularly care to take more then two scrolls, and thus reduce their competition later on. They figured if they could beat the others now, then they could beat them in the next test, and if they got to the tower earlier, they'd have more time to rest before the other candidates finished, and therefore have an advantage for the next test.

They all grinned at each other encouragingly. They knew they could do this. They had each others' backs. They would become Adepts, soon.

* * *

><p>Soon after that, the Adept that had been watching their gate gave them a five minute warning. They quickly took stock of their inventory, and found that nothing had been lost or misplaced. They were ready. The Adept called again. Fifteen seconds. They got ready. Five seconds, one last shared grin, and then they jumped into the Forest of Death as the Adept called that the test had begun.<p> 


End file.
